After a handful of open training sessions throughout the spring season the EPRU Women’s 15s team took on the New York Rugby Club Developmental Side over Memorial Day Weekend. The match was a great opportunity for the players and it also included the opportunity to see New York’s Women’s Premier League side take on Portland as part of their Friends and Family weekend.
The team was well-prepared for the match thanks to Head Coach Kristin Aliberto (Philly RFC Coach/New York WPL Player) and a group of guest coaches/training attendees from throughout the spring that included Chris Ward (Blackthorn), Josie Ziluca (Atlantis/USA Eagles U20), and Jon Grasso (Philadelphia United). Bringing different perspectives together helped all of the players, regardless of position or experience level, get helpful insight and individual feedback to aid with their development. The on-field leaders, Co-Captains Maddie Groninger and JD Rivera, were also crucial to the team’s success.
Ro Drumgoole started off the scoring in the early-going with a try in the 9th minute that was converted by Katie Walston and quickly followed up by a try from Taylor Wuerker in the 11th minute that was also converted. Maddie Groninger added a try midway through the first half and then the EPRU finished the opening period on an incredibly strong note with tries from Katie Walston, Morgan Mattia, and Lauren Shissler – with two conversions from Shissler – in the 35th, 38th, and 40th minute respectively.
Obviously it was great heading into halftime with a 38-0 advantage on the scoreboard but the players worked too hard to prepare for this match in order to have a letdown from there and were able to open the second half with tries from JD Rivera and Gianna Calciano within the first 10 minutes. From there New York had a 20 minute period of excellent rugby that included tries from (assuming the jersey numbers matched the posted roster) Kiersten Oteyza, and Olivia Schmelzel (x2) at the 55, 65, and 72 minute mark. The EPRU wasn’t quite finished though and Kayla Coan was able to add a try in the 73rd minute to bring the match to its 57-15 final score.
It was great to see this program come together for such a successful performance on the field and it was even better to see how that success was due to contributions from all over the field and from all over the Union. For the 2021-2022 competition cycle the EPRU had 10 Women’s Club programs and 8 of them were represented in this side, additionally we had 9 different try scorers in this match so the contributions really were spread out. It should also be noted that Gabby Wood generously agreed to play for NYRC during the second half of the game so that they could keep their WPL roster set and that Gabby played a great match for both sides.
Some other interesting notes: this match was actually the first time that Morgan Mattia had ever played 15s. Morgan is currently with East Stroudsburg University who focused primarily on 7s this year. It should also be noted that Morgan’s second ever 15s match was the Mid-Atlantic Women’s Rugby Showcase U23 All-Star match. If anyone is aware of another player whose first two career 15s matches were both select-side/all-stars please let us know!
Joining Morgan in the Mid-Atlantic U23 match were Kayla Coan and Gianna Calciano so we are thrilled to see that three of our players were immediately selected for follow-up all-star play after participating in this match. Keara McMinn also participated in the U23 and would have played for the EPRU against New York but had military commitments as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Pennsylvania National Guard.
Following the match we caught up with Co-Captain Maddie Groninger who told us the following “I was so proud to play on this team. I played select side in my younger years and it always proved to be a massive learning opportunity and forged new friendships – this time around was no different. We came from different teams, having virtually no experience together, all with different playing/learning stles, and ended up pulling off a major win and playing FUN rugby! I will continue to wear my #2 EPRU jersey with pride over what we accomplished.”
We also heard from Gianna Calciano, a rising senior at Loyola, who said “In the backline, our flyhalf Katie and fullback Olivia stepped up big and were leaders on the pitch (especially to us younger folks like Morgan and myself). I couldn’t thank them enough for their constant communication, words of wisdom, and motivation. I didn’t spend much time with the forwards but Ro had a lot of line breaks. The captain/hooker Maddie was a great communicator and stayed calm and composed throughout the match.”
Nothing makes us happier than to see a successful and happy team on and off the field. Great work everyone!
Here is our roster from the match. Note that Erica Marley (Brandywine) was unavailable due to injury and Keara McMinn, as stated previously, had a military commitment. Becca Silver was also unavailable due to a prior commitment but her work on the EPRU Board helping to set up the program from the summer of 2021 onwards was invaluable as was her leadership at the training sessions.
- Eda Akpek (Philadelphia
- Maddie Groninger (Doylestown)
- Kirby Gordon (Reading Valley)
- Karen Hall (Phoenixville)
- Lorraine Avery-Easterwood (Wilmington)
- Gabby Wood (Philadelphia)
- Ro Drumgoole (Philadelphia)
- Kimberly Spiegel (Harrisburg)
- Taylor Wuerker (Philadelphia)
- Katie Walston (Doylestown)
- Gianna Calciano (Loyola University)
- Kayla Coan (Northeast Philadelphia)
- JD Rivera (Philadelphia)
- Morgan Mattia (East Stroudsburg University)
- Olivia Rasp (Philadelphia)
- Madison Werts (Northeast Philadelphia)
- Erika Hertel (Doylestown)
- Lauren Shissler (Harrisburg)
- Elizabeth Clark (Gettysburg University)
- Nikki Fairman (Doylestown)
Stats:
Tries: Ro Drumgoole, Taylor Wuerker, Maddie Groninger, Katie Walston, Morgan Mattia, Lauren Shissler, JD Rivera, Gianna Calciano, Kayla Coan
Conversions: Katie Walston (4), Lauren Shissler (2)
